On Sunday, the 68th Grammy Awards went about as you’d expect from a broad perspective. Once again, Trevor Noah returned to host the event at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and similar to last year, the same faces brought home a majority of the all-genre awards. In particular, Kendrick Lamar continued his domination at the Grammys, bringing home the most awards of the night with five en route to becoming the most-awarded rapper in the history of the show. Similarly, Super Bowl halftime show headliner, Bad Bunny, took home an additional four Grammys, including the highly coveted Album of the Year, becoming the first Latin artist to take home the award.
In a night filled with viral moments, ranging from the seemingly never-ending stream of political messaging from the likes of Billie Eilish, the aforementioned Bad Bunny and more, it was none other than Jelly Roll’s speech that proved to be the most memorable and ultimately most impactful.
After bringing home both Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“Amen” with Shaboozey) and Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song (“Hard Fought Hallelujah” with Brandon Lake) earlier in the night before the main show aired on television, the “Liar” singer won his third and final Grammy of the night, taking home Best Contemporary Country Album for Beautifully Broken.
Beating out the likes of Tyler Childers’ Snipe Hunter and Eric Church’s Evangeline vs. The Machine, Jelly stepped on the Cypto.com Arena’s stage and did what he does best: delivered a passionate speech.
Wasting no time, he’d first thank Jesus for the Grammy win before thanking his wife, Bunny, noting that he would have ended up back in jail or dead without her.
“First of all, Jesus, I hear you and I am listening, Lord. I am listening, Lord. Second of all, I want to thank my beautiful wife. I would have never changed my life without you. I would have ended up dead or in jail or I would have killed myself if it wasn’t for you and Jesus. I thank you for that.”
The rapper-turned-country star went on to thank his record label and shouted out country radio, which he’s had much success with in his still-rising country music career.
Once he got all of that out of the way, though, Jelly shifted into evangelist mode and basically told the story of his life, invited others to follow Christ and proclaimed that the Lord doesn’t belong to one political party over the other:
“There was a time in my life y’all that I was broken. That’s why I wrote this album. I didn’t think I had a chance y’all. There were times where I thought the darkest things and thought I was a horrible human. There was a moment in my life where all I had was a (pocket) Bible this big and a radio the same size in a six-by-eight-foot cell. I believed that those two things could change my life.
I believed that music had the power to change my life, and God had the power to change my life. I want to tell you all right now that Jesus is for everybody. Jesus is not owned by one political party. Jesus is not owned by one music label. Jesus is Jesus and anybody can have a relationship with him. I love you Lord.”
Regardless of how you feel about Jelly Roll’s music as a whole, it’s hard to deny just how powerful the speech, like most of his now-famous speeches, was. In fact, searches for the terms “Jesus,” “Bible” and “God” saw a 10-20% increase on Google shortly following the Grammys on Sunday. As he alluded in the speech, his run-ins with the law have been one of the defining characteristics of his story and journey throughout the years. First being arrested at the age of 16, the “I Am Not Okay” singer was in and out of jail roughly 40 times in his life.
Since then, he’s been arguably one of the biggest advocates in all of music for prison reform, donating $250,000 for a recording studio at the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center in 2022, providing 300 meals to Davidson County this past Thanksgiving and most famously testifying before Congress to combat the fentanyl crisis in America.
Fresh off the Grammy win, during an interview with Entertainment Tonight along with his Star Search co-stars, Jelly would reveal that he plans on giving back to Davidson County once again. This time around, he’s planning on giving one of his three Grammys to none other than county sheriff Darren Hall, who played a key role in his pardon this past December.
“I’m gonna obviously keep one of them at the studio because that was my dream, and I think I’m gonna give the second one to the county sheriff, Darren Hall, to put at the jail.”
If there’s one thing that cannot be denied about Jelly Roll, it’s the simple fact that he has never shied away from his past mistakes. In turn, he’s continually shown an incredible amount of respect for all the people that helped him along the way. As always, you can feel however you want about his music, but his testimony and actions simply speak for themselves. And perhaps even more importantly, the positive impact he’s having on listeners is just undeniable.
